


Adrien Came Home Again Last Summer

by TheStarfishAlien



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Accident, Adrien Agreste Is Sunshine, Adult Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Based on a song, Bullying, Coma, Feels, Gabriel Agreste Is Not Hawk Moth, Gabriel Agreste and Marinette become comrades, Gabriel Agreste is Sad Dad, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Loss, Marinette Dupain-Cheng Is a Sweetheart, Marinette Telling Stories, Marinette and Adrien are not romantically involved in any way, Sad, Short, Time Skips, all around bittersweet, kinda sad, many feels much sads, minimal characters, only referenced really, pretty short, stayed up all night to write this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-18
Packaged: 2019-11-14 21:19:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18060332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheStarfishAlien/pseuds/TheStarfishAlien
Summary: A short story in an alternate universe, where the Tales of Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir are a story Marinette makes up for a comatose boy.Probably feels involved.Much pain, many sads.Heavily based off of the song Adrian by Jewel. The lyrics are somewhat used in the story but the story doesn't exactly follow the song.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Miraculous Ladybug, any of its characters, or the song Adrian by Jewel.

** Adrien came home again last summer. **

** Things just haven’t been the same around here. **

Through the halls, Marinette was walking. The hospital was so busy with so many patients. Some just there temporarily and others long-term. As she neared the end of the long-term care ward, she noticed an open door and felt a breeze coming from within. She had always been naturally curious and so Marinette peeked in. An open window was the source of the breeze. The room was so white, and plain where other long-term patients had gifts and decor from home and their loved ones. Under wires and tubes was a boy. The machines giving him life dwarfed his body though he was likely was about Marinette’s age. 

Despite all that, the sun shone on his golden hair and made him the personification of those golden rays. Marinette liked this boy with his soft features and sunlight hair. 

She couldn’t help herself and yanked out her sketchbook to draw the budding idea in her mind. 

Sunshine, softness even in the dreary hospital. She had a vision in her mind of the jacket she wanted to design.

She bit the tip of her pencil as she eyed the finished sketch critically. She nodded, it would do for a first draft. She was about to leave but she paused, and her gaze went back to the boy of sunlight. 

Marinette walked back over and opened the sketchbook. She turned the sketchbook towards the comatose boy. 

“I-uh...I guess you can’t see this, but I drew a jacket for you-well not for you but inspired by you. It’s a soft and bright jacket. Sunlight and... well it’s not finished yet. This is only a rough draft. It’s a soft green and it’ll have yellow accents on it. I think it would look really good on you...and uh.... it’ll look good on you later I mean-uh I mean if you-sorry when you wake up.  NOt  that you can’t wear it while in a coma-,” Marinette smacked the sketch book over her face. “Ugh! Marinette, why do you do this? You are literally talking to a coma patient. One that is  a complete stranger  who probably can’t even hear you and you can’t even string a single sentence together straight. Gosh girl, get yourself together.” She smacked her cheeks. “I’m sorry for all that, even though you probably can’t even hear me,” she gave a nervous giggle, “I’ll be sure to come back to show you my progress.” 

Marinette fell into an awkward silence and swayed on her feet, her hands fidgeting on her sketchbook.

“I hope you can hear this,” she thought a second, “well not this, but people I mean. It must be unbearably lonely... Oh! Maybe I’ll tell you a story next time. I don’t know what about yet, but I’ll think of something.” Marinette nodded to herself and got to the door this time before stopping.

“I-uh I have to go. Goodbye, Sunshine Boy...” Marinette liked that nickname, she didn’t know his real one, so until then she would call him Sunshine Boy. 

Marinette passed a nurse checking files as she was leaving the room. Marinette smiled shyly to the woman and  continued on  her way.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ah yes, Gabriel being a sad dad.

**An unfortunate accident in a canoe.**  

A canoeing accident had put Adrien in a coma. The doctors told his father, the famous fashion designer Gabriel Agreste, that they couldn’t do anything for Adrien. The only thing keeping him alive at that point in time was the machines.  

Gabriel, unable to cope with his son dying so soon after his wife refused to turn the machines off. Instead he had the hospital set aside a room and take care of Adrien.  

Gabriel’s life was suspended in a sort of coma just as his son’s was. He visited often and somehow still managed to keep up his fashion line. Often, he channeled his very grief into his work. Certain pieces were clearly influenced by his sorrow. 

It took a surprisingly long time for Gabriel to find out that someone else was visiting his son as well. A year and a half, to be exact.  

At first, this gave him anger. He heard about how this girl wanted to be a fashion designer and assumed that she was after brownie points with Gabriel himself.  

He decided to take matters into his own hands and demanded to know when this girl came to visit Adrien. The nurses told him. 

They knew Marinette and had a plan to show Gabriel the truth. They gave him a time that was about fifteen minutes after Marinette would arrive.  

Gabriel glided down the hallway, with his cane and his best intimidating look. The nurses halted him by the door, and he froze at what he heard inside. 

It was not the gloating of someone trying to get in with the Agreste fashion line. Nor did the words he heard have anything to do with fashion. Gabriel peeked inside and... 

...while she did have a book open on her lap, it was a sketchbook full of doodles.  

No real fashion design, just patterns and little creatures. The pencil was rarely on the page for long. This girl told her story with animation and wild gestures.  

The story had something to do with heroes fighting a villain that was terrorizing Paris.  

He turned back fully into the hallway and met the smug gazes of the two nurses next to him.  

“...She’s been coming here for how long?” He asked, suddenly unsteady. 

“At least once a week since he was moved to that room,” one nurse noted. She had been around since the beginning of this. “She doesn’t know who he is, calls him Sunshine Boy, the dear girl.” 

The other nurse piped in, “she only mentions fashion when she has made a big upgrade on that jacket, she designed for him.” 

“Jacket? What jacket?” Gabriel was almost more curious than demanding now. 

The first nurse tapped her chin a moment before answering, “I think it was on the very first day she came. She was visiting a relative, see, and she wandered in there for some reason. I was about to go in and check on him, when I heard her rambling on about this jacket she had sketched. She was so excited, stumbling over herself and talking about how she wanted him to wear it when she finishes.” 

“So, she does know who he is,” Gabriel insisted. How else would she have known about his modeling? 

“No, she even said it that very first day. She doesn’t know who he is, always calls him Sunshine Boy,” the first nurse insisted. “She’s as sweet as they come Mr. Agreste.” 

Gabriel looked toward the open doorway and then back to the nurses. He could still faintly hear the young lady’s voice still telling her story of the two heroes of Paris. The fashion designer sighed and visibly deflated. He suddenly looked ten years older, his expression haggard. He was so tired. 

Suddenly the girl exited the room with a soft and somewhat sad, “Goodbye Sunshine Boy.”  

She froze in her tracks as she came face-to-face with her favorite designer icon and the two nurses. The color drained from her face as her brain short-circuited.  

“What is your name young lady?” Gabriel asked, placing his fashion designer face back on. 

She jumped and stood ramrod straight, “Marinette Dupain-Cheng, sir,” she rattled off like a recording machine. 

“Did you know that this is my son that you have been visiting for the past year and a half?” Gabriel did not think this Marinette girl was able to turn any paler, she surprised him by doing just so. She lost her stiffness in her panic. 

“N-no sir! I had...no idea...” she threw a glance back to the room where a comatose Adrien still lay, her eyes betrayed her wonder and surprise. She was not lying. 

“Very well. Miss Dupain-Cheng, I give you full permission to visit Adrien as you please,” Gabriel did not fail to notice how relieved she looked. “However,” she froze up again, “if I find that you try to use him to get in with me, I will not hesitate to have you barred from this hospital.” Gabriel let his stern gaze rest on Marinette. He did not expect her to cause him any trouble, but it never hurt to be cautious. 

“O-Of course, that’s-Of course, sir, that’s very generous. Thank you.” She gave a sort of bow and was about to leave when Gabriel stopped her.  

“I-uh...Yes sir?” She looked worried again, as if Gabriel might snatch back his words and kick her to the curb.  

“I would very much like to see that jacket you are designing for my son. Please leave some of your latest sketches and any fabric swatches you might have with Adrien. I will review them and give you any comments I might have,” Gabriel watched as she sucked in a sharp breath and nodded even as she turned about the color of a sheet once more. 

“You are free to go, Miss Dupain-Cheng.” Marinette nodded again and left at a near run.  

“Now, did you really have to go and scare that poor button?” The first nurse asked. 

“If she really wants to be in the fashion industry, she’s going to have to be a lot tougher than that,” Gabriel replied dryly. 

“Well I think she’s lovely just the way she is. Maybe she could use a little confidence boost, but she’s such a sweet creative spirit,” the second nurse added in, before her and the first nurse went back to their regular duties.  

Even as Gabriel went to sit by his son’s side, his mind was not on the boy nor Gabriel’s own grief. Neither were his thoughts on his deceased wife. Instead his thought’s dwelled on the girl whose energetic voice had filled Adrien’s room with cheer and hope. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir  
> Marinette's determination to help others pulls through.

Marinette’s parents encouraged her visits to the hospital. They only knew that she was visiting one of the long-term patients. She seemed so content to go. They suspected that she was having a somewhat hard time in school, but she never said anything about it. 

When things were rougher, she would go more often to the hospital. It seemed to be her outlet, her way of dealing with it all. Her parents encouraged the visits that seemed to make her happier.

Going back near the beginning, Marinette began her tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir after only a few visits. She found that she didn’t want to always burden him with her school life and daily things. So, she decided to make up a story. 

One visit, she only brainstormed about what kind of story it would be. She decided the simpler she could make the basics of it the better, so she imagined herself as a hero. As a hero, she would need a partner, a yin to her yang. In that line of thought, Cat Noir was born. 

Cat Noir would be the devoted supporter of Marinette, the hero. But who...A ladybug landed on the open window sill at that moment. 

Ladybug.

That didn’t sound too bad for a hero name. 

Now, for Cat Noir to be so devoted and supportive of Ladybug, he would probably have to be in love with Ladybug. Not with Marinette herself, mind you, but the ideal version of herself that Marinette was creating. All her good qualities combined with some ladybug luck and she might  actually make  an okay hero.

Marinette ran with this rough idea for the next visit. It was a little rocky. She wasn’t sure exactly, but she started with a random villain that the heroes, Ladybug and Cat Noir had to face. 

While the story progressed, Marinette noticed that Sunshine Boy still did not show any signs of getting better. In fact, he was deteriorating, not in the sense of his vitals. He was still on most of the machines to keep him alive, but his body was wasting away from his sedentary state. 

** He looked so fragile.  **

** He looked so small. **

** And she wondered why he was still alive at all. **

This was when she decided to talk about the origin story of Ladybug and Cat Noir. In her head, Sunshine Boy was Cat Noir. She let him know that, by including him in her school. She used her own school, since that was simplest. She told him how Ladybug’s civilian form had a major crush on Sunshine Boy. She made up that the story Marinette knew almost everything about Sunshine Boy. 

She knew this was because she knew nothing about this coma patient. 

She talked of the jewelry that gave Ladybug and Cat Noir their powers. She fabricated little guides that helped the users of these “miraculous,” for lack of a better word, be the best heroes they could be. 

For Marinette, that was an encourager. Someone to boost her confidence and remind her to stay positive. For Sunshine Boy she told of a mischievous little guide who kept Sunshine from remaining Cat Noir all the time. 

With this story, Marinette included a massive amount of her real life.  In reality, she  was telling Sunshine Boy of all her troubles. But she was doing so in a light-hearted world where there were no permanent consequences. 

Most of the time Marinette could somewhat remove herself from the story. Ladybug was like a whole other person from Marinette.

Not this time though. Now, Marinette was going to dig deep and really connect herself with Ladybug. This was the origin story.

Marinette admitted all the misgivings she would have as a hero and how she would end up messing everything up.

Then she remembered that this story always had a good ending. She couldn’t end it with her failure. That would mean she had failed Sunshine Boy. She forged on and finished the story with her overcoming her failure with Cat Noir’s help and agreeing to become partners with the eager cat.

Marinette was satisfied with how she had ended the origin story. She had not failed Sunshine Boy. She felt proud of herself for this and went home just a little happier than she had come in.

The next week, only a feeding tube and the usual monitoring equipment was attached to Sunshine Boy. 

Marinette teared up from where she had frozen, halfway across the room. She had no explanation for why she was so happy. She couldn’t help but wonder briefly if it was her origin story that had helped. But no, that was ridiculous. 

Still...she let a small flame of hope enter her heart. 

She sat herself in her usual chair and let herself cry for a few moments more.

“I’m sorry Sunshine. It’s just...I’m so happy. I’ll get back to the Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir. I have a new villain for us to defeat, Sunshine,” she smiled conspiratorially at him. 

Marinette found herself in higher spirits for the next few months. Not even Chloe’s bullying could bring down her mood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave a comment. I'm sure there are typos, since I have not edited this really at all. I don't have much patience for waiting on posting things so the rest of this will likely be out before a full week passes.   
> Take care lovelies,  
> ~Starfish Alien out!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Along the lines of hopeful times.

It had been six months since Marinette had run into Gabriel Agreste and learned of Sunshine Boy’s identity. She and Gabriel had a system of exchanging ideas on her jacket. 

The world-famous fashion designer had  actually liked  her jacket idea. Of course, he had some critiques, but he didn’t think that the whole thing was garbage. 

She would leave her most recent changes and adaptations to her design in a packet on one of the chairs in the room. The next time she visited, the packet would be there, along with Gabriel Agreste’s notes and comments on the changes.

Marinette stepped into the room to find Mr. Agreste there along with a doctor and a couple of nurses. She halted, about to back out again, when Mr. Agreste noticed her.

“Good. You are here Miss Dupain-Cheng. Adrien’s awake,” Mr. Agreste said in a tone that wasn’t his usual intimidating fashion designer voice. Marinette hardly noticed though, her face lit with hope at the news.

“He’s awake...” she breathed out in a murmur. Mr. Agreste nodded, still somewhat solemn.

The doctor looked from Marinette to Gabriel.

“Sir, would you like me to wait to-”

Gabriel cut him off, “go ahead. Miss Dupain-Cheng deserves to hear this as much as I do.”

And so, the doctor did.

It was not the best news. Adrien would likely never make a full recovery. 

** He’s awake, but still not there. **

Marinette found herself having the same happy yet melancholic feeling that Gabriel had.

She wondered what kind of life Adrien would have like this. Could he enjoy anything, or was his mind truly empty? He would always have to be cared for by someone else. He may not ever be able to do anything for himself. What kind of life  was-

A hand clamped onto Marinette’s shoulder, startling her out of her thoughts.

“He may still recover more. Adrien is a resilient boy.” It was as if Mr. Agreste had read her mind. Then again, as Adrien’s father, his thoughts were likely running along the same lines.

“Yes, Mr. Agreste. We can keep hope.”

These two near strangers who had bonded over the boy they both cared for, they could only hope for a better future and take what they had day-by-day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are almost to the end here. Just the last chapter left to go. I enjoy comments, even if it's just to let me know where something needs changed. Thank you for reading, it's greatly appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And on into the finale. Marinette the devoted friend.

~4 years later~

“Hey there, I’ve noticed that we both come here often. Would you like to get a coffee sometime?” The guy who asked Marinette was  fairly attractive . He’d make a pretty good model for some of her clothing designs, but she only came to this coffee shop when she was going to visit Adrien. The rest of the time she was cramming in more work for her design projects. 

“Sorry, I can’t.” Marinette Dupain-Cheng the aspiring fashion designer, did not have time to date. 

“Not even just a few minutes while you are here?” This guy was very hopeful. She could tell he was trying not to be pushy.

“Afraid not, I have a tight schedule. I have someone important to visit today,” Marinette replied.

“Is it a boyfriend?”

Marinette halted and blinked, surprised. Then she let out a small laugh.

“No, an old friend who I used to tell stories to in the hospital.” She didn’t mention that she still told these stories to Sunshine. That was none of this man’s business. She glanced at her watch. “Ah. I need to run. I’ll be late if I don’t go now.” 

With those parting words, Marinette left the coffee shop with a flurry of energy and a garment bag in hand. 

The barista gave Marinette’s suitor a consolatory smile.

“Sorry man, she’s one of the fashion design students. Those guys are always crazy busy. Then she does whatever this is as least once a week. It’s a pity she doesn’t have any free time, she’s about as lovely as they come,” he said as they watched Marinette disappear around a corner.

“Yeah.”

~

Marinette rushed up to the Agreste manor’s gates. She pressed the buzzer and danced from foot-to-foot in her excess energy. 

Today was the day. 

Adrien was coming home.

Nathalie buzzed Marinette through.

Yellow flowers decorated Adrien’s bedroom.

The sign above his door said welcome home.

Marinette waited as Gabriel and a few in-home nurses wheeled Adrien into the manor. 

Marinette nearly found herself in tears as she unwrapped the finished jacket and brought it over to drape around Adrien’s shoulders. She smiled at the picture Sunshine made in the jacket she had designed when she had first seen him. 

She did not fail to notice how he didn’t quite fill it out. He no longer fit the same picture that she had seen when she was first inspired.

** Oh Adrien, come out and play. **

A pang of sorrow rolled through her stomach. She knelt in front of his wheel chair with a smile all the same.

“Do you like the jacket, Sunshine?” The shadow of sunshine did not respond to her words. He fiddled with a toy that was supposed to help stimulate his mind. 

Marinette still smiled up at him. 

“I’m glad you’re home now,” she said softly. It was barely above a whisper for she feared her voice might crack at normal volume.

Marinette froze, as a deer in headlights does, when one of Adrien’s hands moved off the toy. She barely breathed as his hand reached her face and gently brushed away a tear that she hadn’t known was there.

That very instant made time stop. Everything in her froze but then it was gone, and Adrien was playing with his toy again. Marinette took a breath in and stood.

“Thank you, Adrien,” she told him. 

She met Gabriel’s eyes, that held tears as well. She gave him a small smile and they both followed the wheel chair further into the manor. 

** Adrien came home again last summer. **

** Things just haven’t been the same around here. **

****

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end.   
> Yes I cried writing this.   
> It's kinda bittersweet in a way. Marinette will never know who Adrien was before the accident. Adrien may never become very functional. Gabriel will probably never have his son back. I dunno, it just hit me pretty hard at the time I wrote it. I don't know how you all feel about it. Feel free to let me know.  
> Is it happy?  
> Is it sad?  
> Do you find hope and happiness?  
> Is it bittersweet to you too?


End file.
